Wednesday, February 22, 2012

RED HOUSE

9810 Jefferson Davis Hwy
Richmond, VA 23237

On the seedy part of Jefferson Davis Highway in Chesterfield that has been all but forgotten since the construction of I-95, there sits an extremely ugly yellow building with a red roof ironically named Red House.Most people will never driveby this little dump because there is no good reason to be in this part of town and those who do happen to drive by will think to themselves how ugly it is and feel sorry for anyone who has ever stepped foot in such a god forsaken place.This is a perfect example of the age old mistake of judging a book by its cover. I agree, this place looks horrendous, inside and out. It is also extremely sketchy eating at a place that serves literally every sort of food imaginable; Chinese food, subs, sandwiches, fried chicken, pizza and seafood.These workers and much of its clientele also fall into the sketchy category. But I guarantee that if you can bring yourself to drive into this part of town, are brave enough to step out of your car and go inside of the Red House (did I mention that it is actually yellow?) you will not be disappointed.

I actually picked up Chinese from Red House for Amanda and me as our Valentine’s Day dinner. We ordered the General Tso’s chicken combination plate, a large order of General Tso’s shrimp (Yes, I said General Tso’s shrimp!), crab ragoons, and two spring rolls for $25.00. It was exactly as sketchy and dilapidated as ever and I swear to you there was even what I can only describe as an actual troll inside eating.I had called in my order so within a few minutes I had my food and was quickly out of the door with nothing but the soles of my shoes touching anything inside but even then I felt a little dirty but I knew in the back of my mind that the deliciousness that awaiting was well worth anything I may have caught walking in there. It took all of my strength to not tear into the crab ragoons on my 30 minute drive home.

I was met at the door of my house by my beautiful girlfriend, Amanda, and my extremely excited mutt, Harvey.After a kiss or two from both of them and a Happy Valentine’s Day, Amanda and I wasted no time ripping into the bag to find our tasty dinner. Inside held a smorgasbord of food loaded with grease, sugar, salt, and MSGs, all of the things that make Chinese food taste so delicious.Most places do not have General Tso’s shrimp but Red house does and as always it was delicious. The large order is enough for three meals. It came with thick slices of green peppers and onions mixed in with the battered shrimp. The shrimp are large jumbo shrimp, not some dinky little popcorn shrimp where you don’t know what it really it is. Their General Tso’s sauce tastes homemade and is nice and thick and went perfectly with the shrimp. I chose white rice to go along with it because the sauce it so good you do not need fried rice. Their fried rice is amazing all by itself. It is a little brown and loaded with vegetables and bean sprouts, it is easily some of the best fried rice I’ve ever had. The crab ragoons were very good but not really anything different from other Chinese restaurants; fried dumplings stuffed with cream cheese and little bits of crab. The one difference is that they put pineapple chunks in their sweet red sauce. These little attentions to detail really make Red House stand out from the millions of other cookie cutter Chinese restaurants. My only disappointment was that I ordered spring rolls instead of egg rolls but this was my own dumb fault and honestly for spring rolls they were pretty awesome.

For the next two days at work I ate my left over General Tso’s shrimp and it tasted just as good on the second and third day.I even ate Amanda’s left over General Tso’s chicken on Saturday for lunch and that was also delicious. I cannot say enough good things about the food at the Red House. I can also not say enough about how sketchy it is. It just goes to show you that you should never judge a book by its cover because Red House was the best Chinese” book” I’ve ever read. Man up and go check out Red House if you make it back home alive I promise that you will agree that it is the best Chinese restaurant around.